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Washington Capitals’ philosophy on aggressive defence paying off

By Isabelle KhurshudyanThe Washington Post

Wed., Dec. 26, 2018

Matt Niskanen couldn’t help but be a little self-deprecating as he described his team’s secondary scoring, including a goal from himself, in the Washington Capitals’ last game before the four-day holiday break, a 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators.

“That’s good team stuff, when you get guys down the lineup contributing and old, slow defencemen contributing,” Niskanen said with a chuckle.

Niskanen looked neither old nor slow as he joined the rush with forwards Travis Boyd and Nicklas Backstrom. He skated up to the net while keeping his stick on the ice, Backstrom’s pass hitting it in stride before it was redirected into the net. That marked Niskanen’s fifth goal of the season, putting him on track to match his career-high in goals for a season (10), and the play reinforced a philosophy of the Capitals — that defencemen should be involved in the offensive attack as much as possible.

Washington has averaged 1.91 even-strength points per game from its defencemen, up from last season’s 1.68 points per game and a big reason the team has the league’s third-ranked offence with 3.60 goals per game. The Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs are the only teams getting more scoring than the Capitals from their blue line, and not coincidentally, all of those teams are in position to make the playoffs.

“We’ve always put a premium on all six of our defencemen being able to add some offence,” coach Todd Reirden said. “Obviously, some are more than others, but that’s what we talk to all of our (defencemen) about and have for the last few years ... We need to get offence from our blue line, and this year in particular has been huge because of missing (forwards) T.J. (Oshie) and Tom (Wilson) and even (Evgeny) Kuznetsov for a while. It’s important to be able to find different ways to score.”

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Asked if there’s still a place for “stay-at-home” defencemen in the modern NHL, Reirden laughed as he explained his distaste for that term. Back when he was an NHL player, then-teammate Marc Bergevin described him that way: “The team will go on the road, and you will stay at home,” Reirden recalled Bergevin saying. Nowadays, it describes blue liners who are “defensive defencemen,” less concerned about joining the offensive rush so as to not risk the opponent getting a prime scoring opportunity back.

Those players can continue to have roles in the NHL, like Washington veteran Brooks Orpik, but with the league’s emphasis on speed and getting the puck up the ice quickly and efficiently to foster more scoring, they’ve had to adapt some. It starts with simply being in position to be involved in the offence.

“Take a couple hard strides so you’re a little bit closer to jump into a hole,” Niskanen said. “If you’re just being lazy up the ice, then it’s too far to jump into an opportunity.”

Niskanen said he’s seen fewer three-on-twos this season, and to create a four-on-three rush, the Capitals’ forwards will occasionally buy time by delaying an offensive zone entry so that a defenceman could join the attack with a second wave, making the scoring chance that much more difficult to defend. Washington’s defencemen are also encouraged to be active in the offensive zone because the movement can create shot lanes for forwards. While shots from the point rarely beat a goaltender anymore, rebounds can create better chances at the net-front.

“With our abilities, we want to be up the ice all of the time,” defenceman John Carlson said. “And you see that. You see guys contributing whether it’s — I don’t want to call it a decoy — but essentially just to give a different look. A different guy to think about has an effect on not only the (opposing defencemen) but the goalie, as well.”

Carlson leads Washington blue liners with 19 even-strength points, and Reirden has said that he’ll often try to put him on the ice in favourable situations (against less dangerous forwards) so that he can take advantage offensively. As for when is the right time to join a rush, Carlson said there are certain trigger points. As an example, if he evades the first forechecker and gets the puck over to partner Michal Kempny, he might feel in good position to beat a defender up ice, but if the opponent is in the middle of a line change with just one forechecker and four players sitting back, he’s not going to take the risk.

It’s a balance, but the Capitals are skewing aggressive.

“All of this is keeping in mind that your first job is to defend,” Niskanen said. “Things can go wrong, and you’ve got to get back quickly.”

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